Former Indy 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr. will make his 2017 NASCAR debut driving for Roger Penske in the NASCAR Xfinity series. Hornish is slated to drive the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang for Team Penske for three races. Hornish will compete at Iowa Speedway when the series visits the track on June 24 and July 29, and at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on August 12. Greg Erwin will serve as the crew chief for the team.

Hornish says he's looking forward to being back in NASCAR and driving for Team Penske once again. He calls the organization one of the top teams in the Xfinity series and credits them for being a huge part of his racing career.

He is glad to be back home after he got his career started with them. Hornish also appreciates Discount Tire for giving him the chance to be back behind the wheel and hopes he will be successful in his return.

Hornish's elgiblity gives him more opportunities

Hornish continued to say that with NASCAR's new elgiblity rules, it will give him more opportunities to be able to drive in more races for the upcoming year -- something he hopes he gets to do in the future. However, Hornish is excited to be back with Penske and be back with NASCAR.

Hornish's time racing

For Hornish’s Xfinity career, he has competed in 114 races with 4 wins, 35 top-five finishes, 61 top-10 finishes and eight poles.

At the tracks he’s scheduled to race at, Hornish had two wins at Iowa back in 2014 and 2016. The wins were both with Joe Gibbs racing, while his best finish at Mid-Ohio was second, which happened last year. His last Xfinity win was at Iowa Speedway where he led for 183 of the 250 laps, with the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in May of 2016.

In his time with Penske racing, Hornish has competed in 130 NASCAR Cup Series starts and 99 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts which have resulted in two Xfinity wins total -- one at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and one at Phoenix International Raceway. His best career point standing finish in Xfinity was second back in 2013 where he lost the championship to Austin Dillon by a mere three points.

In his time in the Cup, he earned 3 top fives and 9 top tens, with his best season-ending point standing being the 28th position back in 2009.

Before his time in NASCAR, Hornish was part of Penske’s Verizon IndyCar Series, with 116 starts, 19 wins, 43 podium finishes, and 10 poles. He also won the Indianapolis 500 with the same organization in 2006, and captured the championship that same year.
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